Process of and apparatus for forming seamless fiber stock containers



L. M. WILEY Sept. 29, 1942.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING SEAMLESS FIBER lSTOCK CONTAINE Filed May 13 All lll/ y Patented Sept. 29, 1942 UNITED STATES "azoteas l PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FR FOEMING SEAMLESS FIBER STCK Lee M. Wiley, Marioinllnd. Application May 13, i940, Serial No. 334,823

(Cl. 93u60) l1 Claims.

This invention relates to uting arrangement for forming a uted wall container blank from a flat blank and subsequently compressing the utes into side wall formation simultaneously with initial container form formation.

This invention is an improvement upon the processes and similar forms o1' apparatus described and claimed in the copending applications, Serial No. 288,343, filed August 4, 1939, and entitled, ,Sheet pulp container forming process and apparatus therefor, and Serial No. 316,742, filed February 1, 1940, and entitled Sheet pulp` container forming process and apparatus therefor, and is a continuation in part application of the aforesaid applications.

The chief object of the 'present invention is to preventing the cutting of the sheet stock in the prefluting and initial dishing` operation and to reduce the friction between the sheet stock and deforming parts to permit stock drawing with a minimum of friction and which permits deeper containers to be drawn, containers to be drawn from diilerent blank thicknesses and different Y thickness containers to be drawn from the same blank thickness and at a much lower tool cost.

The chief feature of the invention consists in the elimination of sharp edges in the iluting arrangement in the earlier disclosed application and the elimination of hand finishing of flutes in the later disclosed application, and utilizing in lieu thereof a pair of confronting peripheral series of creasing wheels or discs, the wheels of both series partially overlapping and intertting.

Other objects and features will be set forth more fully hereinafter.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from. the accompanying drawing and the following description and claims:

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a central sectional view through the invention, parts being shown in a position wherein the blank is but partially drawn from flat sheet form, and but partially dished.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the cooperating dies for initial container formation immediately prior to such formation.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the cooperating dies in the initial container formation forming position.

Fig. 4 isa plan view of a portion of one creasing wheel ring arrangement.

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a portion of the two cooperating creasing wheel arrangements with the creased or fiuted stock therebetween.

Fig. 6 is a radial sectional view through one wheel arrangement support. In Fig. l of the drawing, il! indicates the bed plate or base portion of a 'container forming machine, such as is more fully illustrated and de-r scribed and claimed broadly in the two before mentioned applications. This support it includes an aperture II relieved as at I2. Sutably mounted on the plate III is a die supporting plate I3 having a central aperturel registering with aperture II and relieved as at It. 'Ihe face opposite the base is relieved as at 'I6 ance purposes.

l Carried by the plate I 3 as indicated at I 'I is a gathering die supporting plate I8 which with its mating ring I9 suitably supports a ilutlng arrangement to which reference will be had hereinafter. The gathering plate and its retaining ring I9 are suitably secured together, as otherwise illustrated in Fig. 1, and to which reference now will be had.

Confronting gathering plate I8 is the gathering plate 20 provided with the retaining ring 2l, the two being suitably secured together as indicated at 22. 'I'hls gathering ring. structure I8-I9 is the die portion and the gathering ring structure 2U2I 'is the punch structure. The latter is suitably secured as at 23 to the punch plate 24 and the latter is carried by and moved with the ram plate 25.

'I'he plate 24 is apertured as at 26 and positioned in the aperture 27 of the ram plate is a ram or plunger 28 having a reduced portion 29 which is recessed` as at 30 to form a tubular portion 3| that is slidably supported in aperture 26 of plate 24.

Projecting centrally and forwardly from the recess 30 is a stem 32 and upon the same is for clearmounted the expansible drawing and sizing 36, the bolts 23 rigidly scouring thel latter and the two plates 20 and 24 together. i

In like manner, the gathering plate I8 is re cessed as at 31 and the blanking ring die 38 includes the inwardly directed ange portion 39 seatable in the recessed portion 31 of the gathering plate structure I8. Set screw means 40 adjusts the position of this blanking ring die.

There also is provided a stripper plate 4I which is apertured at 42 so as to be slidable on the blanking die 38. 'Ihe stripper plate is recessed as-at 43 and the adjacent face of the die plate i3 is correspondingly recessed as at le and seated in said confronting recess is the spring d5 which normally constrains the stripper plate away from the die plate i3 and toward the respective rams.

Separating movement of said stripper plate relative to the die plate i3 is limited by the bolt secured to the stripper plate as at il and having the head portion d8, the body portion of the bolt being slidably supported in the opening cil, the latter being enlarged as at 5@ to form a bore toreceive the head oi the aforesaid bolt structure. Any suitable .number oi stripping plate retainers and travel limit arrangements as well as springs it may be provided, as desired or required.

.in Fig. l, the letter A indicates the strip ci prime pulp sheet and the letter B the blank cut therefrom by the movement of the blanlring ring punch 3S into engagement with the-sheet A and then the shearing oi said sheet by further movement or the blanldng ring punch toward the right, the sheet being 'maintained in intimate contact with this blanlsirig ring by means oi the stripper plate and the blank cut thereiron'i initially bearing on the face @da o the blanking ring die.

After this movement has occurred, the ram continues advancing toward the right so that the plunger 353 engages the central portion of the blank and draws the blank through the two confronting intertting gathering or fluting arrangements, and the position oi the parte as illustrated in Fig. l corresponds to the position when the sheet is but partially dished and almost entirely fluted. The advancing movement oi the expansible plunger is continued until it draws the blank through the iiuting arrangements and frees the same therefrom and transports the partially formed iiuted blank into the receiver die 5i. it will he apparent, therefore, .that the uted blank and the expansible plunger project through the apertures it and il in order to eiect this recever die reception. 4

`The receiver mold may be of parted character, and the like, and includes a central aperture 52 controlled by a frusto conical combination relief valve and ejector t3 carried by a stem 54 slidably supported as at in the receiver mounting plate ist carried by the turret structure, not

shown, but described in the copending applica-l tions.

This receiver mounting plate includes a passage 5'11 that communicates with a compressed air supply duct 553 and the iormer is enlarged to form a well arrangement bil that seats the stem portion @il or the receiver mold arrangement, the latter including a chamber Si provided with a passage t2 communicating with passage 5l and provided with a plurality or ports 53 communicating with the chamber tl controlled by the valve 53. A spring dit normally constrains the valve and ejector to open valve and ejecting position. The chamber is closed by the disc 56.

The receiver is locked to the receiver supporte ing plate, as indicated at @l and 68, this being of taper loclr character, so as to insure rigidity of mounting and retention o the receiver mold on the receiver plate. When the luted container is nested in the receiver mold, as shown in Fig. 2, by the expansible plunger, it will be noted valve 53 is closed and forms a portion of the bottom ofthe receiver mold.

The nal position the expanslble mold takes and the nal form it assumes in the particular embodiment of the invention selected herein, is

shown in Fig. 3. After this' formation has occurred, ram 2e is retracted and the expansible mold assumes the position shown in Fig. 2 while the container retains the position shown in Fig. 3. Continued retraction of the plunger 23 then withdraws the plunger to the position shown in Fig. l and further retraction fully withdraws the plunger 33 from the vicinity lof the gathering plate structure carried by the ram. plate 25 and simultaneously with part ci? this retraction movement, the ram plate is moved toward the left until there is a complete clearance between the two blanlring rings and all. other more remotely separated parts. When suilcient clearance occurs between the two blanking rings, the sheet A is red so as to register a portion of the sheet sumcient ier forming ablank.

ln the withdrawal movement it will be apparent the stripper plate moves toward the right under the inuence o its spring constraint so that the sheet .d is freed irom the relatively stationary blanking die and thus the sheet A may be fed to provide a new blank. The operation oi blanking, drawing the blank through the fluting or creasing arrangements, and drawing the blank into dished form land ejecting the dished and iiuted blank from gathering arrangements 'and positioning the sainein the receiver die, is then repeated. 7 .A

For a more detailed and comprehensive description of the aforesaid mechanism. process and the like, reference is had to each of the two before mentioned applications. The specific improvement in the present instance is shown most clearly in Figs. i and 4 to 6, inclusive, to which reference now will be had.

Since the two gathering plate structures are substantially similar but not identical, as will be perfectly obvious from the following description, reference will be had more particularly to Figs. i to 6, inclusive. In these ilgures, it will be noted that it indicates the gathering plate die and i9 the retaining ring, the gathering die, as stated, being relieved as at 31. The inner periphery of this ring is slotted as indicated at 10 and these slots are radially directed with reference to the ring center when a cylindrical or circular sectioned wall formation is to be formed in the sheet blank. The ring construction as shown clearly in Fig. 5 is parted as at 'i2 and in each of the two confronting faces of members i8 and I9 and in the slotted portions thereof, there are provided grooves '13, which register with each other and form circular bearings or the circular channel 13.

Mounted in each radial slot 70 is a creasing wheel or disc having the rounded periphery li, the flaring side portions 15 and the oppositely directed hub portions I6. Between the hub portion and the flaring side is a flat face 1.1 and it is this flat face,l cooperating with the sides of the slot i0, that maintains the creasing disc in predetermined position or rather in radial alignment. I

As shown clearly in Figs. l and 5, the discs of the two creasing wheel arrangements are alternated so that the wheels of one arrangement are interposed between adjacent wheels or the other arrangement and the wheels overlap to the desired degree. The shape of these wheels at their overlapping portions and the amount of overlap determines the character of the flute formed in the blank as it is drawn through the creasing wheel arrangements by the expansible die in its advance toward the receiver mold. The grooves 2,296,889 l formed in the blank B are indicated by the .letter C in Fig. 5. l

It will be apparent that allthe wheels are identical and that all that is necessary when desired to change the creasing wheel arrangements, is to provide wheels of diierent confronting character.

n Ul It also will be obvious by the employment of f ring spacers, or the like, the amount of overlapf I I, I9, 20 and 2i, for those illustrated.

The wheel arrangements permit a blank to be' drawn through the creasing arrangements with the minimum amount of friction and permit the blank to be drawn through the creasing arrangements without danger of cutting, which might occur with the form of the broad invention disclosed in the first mentioned application.v

The present form of the invention provides a creasing arrangement which has the advantages over the creasing arrangement disclosed in the second mentioned application in that friction is reduced to /a minimum and more particularly hand finishing and smoothing of the creasing dies are eliminated. Furthermore, due to the reduction in friction, there is less wear on the present invention incident to the blank passing therethrough and thus longer life is obtained therefrom.

Furthermore, by reason of the fact that the y entire periphery of a wheel is a creasing surface, the wear thereof is not localized but is distributed and, therefore, localized wear common to both forms of the basic invention disclosed in the two' earily adjusted for utevariation and may bey readily substituted either entirely or in part for varying the number of flutes-or the character of the flutes or both.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in great detail in the drawing and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character.

The several modifications described herein as well as others which will readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art, all are considered to be within the broad scope of the invention, reference being had ltothe appended claims.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as being applicable to the formation of circular sectioned walled containers, ythe invention is equally applicable with slight modifications to a non-circular outlined article. In such event, the corresponding arrangements would be of an outline corresponding in general to' the final outline of the container desired. The term ring therefore, as used herein is not intended to be restricted to a truly circular arrangement but is intended to include within the scope thereof arrangements capable of producing articles 'ing registering central ope of outline such as illustrated in Figs. 18 and 19 of the copending application, Serial No. 316,742 beforementioned and the creasing arrangements in the present invention would be similarly modied so as to function in accordance with the present disclosure andas a substitute for the arrangements disclosed in Figs. 15 to 171 inclusive of the last mentioned copending application.

'I'he invention claimed is:

1. In a ber stock container forming machine, a pair of confronting creasing rrangements havs therethrough, and means for engaging a blank therebetween and centrally thereof for drawing the blank through the arrangements, each including a peripheral series of spaced creasing wheels, the wllileels in the arrangements overlapping each ot er. f

2. In a fiber stock container formingl machine,

a pair of confronting creasing arrangements having regist'ing central" openings thereblank therebetween to move the blank therei between to form a seamless fiber stock container with an initially iiuted side wall, each arrangement including a peripheral series of rotatable creasing members.

4. A ber stock creasing arrangement, includ- .ing a support structure having a central opening therethrough and an opening defining peripheral series of creasing members, each member being rotatably mounted, the support structure being of multiple part character suitably secured together and provided with means for individually and rotatably supporting the members.

5. A fiber stock creasing arrangement including a base ring having radial slots extending outwardly from the ring opening and 'forming spacing tongues, a rotatable creasiimember in each slot, groove means inone face of the ring and substantially transverse to each slot and between the tongue end and tongue connection to the ring, complementary groove forming means secured i'n xed relation to the ring, and means rotatably supporting the members and seated in the complementary grooves.

6. A fiber stock creasing arrangement including a base ring having radial slots extending outwardly from the ring opening and forming spacing tongues, a rotatable creasing member in each slot, groove means in one face of the ring and substantially transverse to each slot and between the tongue end and tongue connection to the ring, complementary groove forming means secured in xedrelation to the ring, and means rotatably supporting the members and seated in the complementary grooves, said last mentioned means including oppositely directed hubs upon each rotatable member.

7. A ber stock creasing arrangement including a base ring having radial slots extending outwardly from the ring opening and forming spacing tongues, a rotatable creasing member in each slot, groove means in one face of the ring and substantially transverse to each slot and between the tongue end and tongue connection to the ring, complementary groove forming means secured in xed relation to the ring, and means rotatably supporting the members and seated in the complementary grooves, the complementary groove forming means including a similarly slotted ring secured to the base ring.

8. A fiberstoclr creasing arrangement including a base ring having radial slots extending outwardly from the ring opening and forming spacing tongues, a rotatable creasing member in each slot, groove means in one face of the ring and substantially transverse to each. slot and between the tongue end and tongue connection to the ring, complementary groove forming means secured in iixed relation to the ring, and means rotatably supporting the members and seated in the complementary grooves, said last mentioned means including oppositely directed hubs upon each rotatable member, the complementary groove forming means including a similarly slotted ring secured to the base ring. i

9. A ber stool; creasing arrangement including a base ring having a radial slots extending outwardly from the ring opening and forming spacing tongues, a rotatable creasing member in each slot,'groove means in one face of the ring and substantially transverse to each vslot and between the tongue end and tongue connection to the ring, complementary groove forming means secured in tired relation to the ring, and means rotatably supporting the members and seated in the complementary grooves, said last men- Ytioned means including oppositely directed hubs upon each rotatable member, the complementary groove forming means including a similarly slotted ring secured to the base ring, the comple- 'mentary grooves forming a circular bearing, the

' confronting walls ot each slot adjacent thereto having radial positioning contact with the rotatable members at opposite sides thereof.

l0. In a creasing structure, a creasing wheel having a peripheral outer face with curved marginal edges merging into divergingly and outwardly directed Irusto-conical-like side walls, the latter terminating short of the central axis, means projecting oppositely axially from the wheel for support of the same, and parallel faces extending from the axial means outwardly to the outer inclined frusto-conical-like side walls, the parallel iaces being adapted for wheel alignment maintenance.

il. in the process o! forming a deep seamless fiber stock container from a dat blank, the combination of creasing the blank except for the central portion thereof by drawing the blank between confronting iluting arrangements peripherally juxtapositioned adjacent and on opposite sides of the blank by pressure applied only to the central portion of the blank for iiuting the outer portion thereof into alternately oppositely directed. U-sh'aped sectioned flutes, the pressure being continued to nest the resulting side wall iuted blank in a receiver die, laterally flattening the midportions of each U-shaped flute previously formed and towards each other therein, and then distributing longitudinally as well as laterally the flattened iiuted side wall stock to form a single smooth side wall formation devoid of excessive localization of stock in the resulting container.

' LEE M. WILEY. 

